


Savior

by phaedra4



Category: Warcraft (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:28:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7429677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phaedra4/pseuds/phaedra4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the march to battle a secret of Khadgar’s is revealed. Porenn must lead an army into battle and fears for Khadgar’s safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Savior

Behind her Ruin snorted with impatience.

She ignored him. Ruin was a trained warhorse, impatient or not, she could rely on him to wait. He knew that when his reins were down that meant he was not to move.  

She daren’t turn around. 

She stared at the edge of the trees that lay half a mile away from the amassed forces standing in silent ranks behind her. 

She stared.  And waited. Standing like a lone sentinel under the rolling grey clouds blanketing the sky overhead, threatening rain.

At any moment she expected thousands of horde soldiers to come streaming out of those tress towards her army. And if they didn’t. If they weren’t following the path her scouts claimed and were headed elsewhere… then mercy be upon Stormwind.

The ranks of men, Draenei and Night Elves behind her waited in an uneasy, tense silence. There was an air of anticipation around her army. As though they were poised on the edge of a cliff the very second before taking the plunge to the freezing waters below. Azeroth itself seem to be holding its breath. Every soldier standing that day felt the unsettling calm before the storm, like a dark roiling sea withdrawing before unleashing it’s fury. 

Slightly behind her was Lothar. And further back, Khadgar.

She wasn’t happy either man was in attendance, though for very different reasons. 

Lothar had been drinking steadily for the past week and no matter how many times she dunked his head into a barrel of rain water he still wasn’t sober enough to command. 

He should’ve been leading their troops, but the responsibility had fallen to her.

Thirty seven thousand three hundred and nine. Not counting herself and Lothar. 

Thirty seven thousand three hundred and nine lives were in her hands. How many of those men would die today? How many had already kissed their loved ones goodbye for the last time? How many had seen their last sunrise? Eaten their last meal? How many men would die following her into battle. 

She was afraid to face her men. She knew she could lead a force into battle, she knew battle tactics and was confident they would come out on top. But she was afraid to look into the faces of men condemned to death that day. 

They were good men. Brave men who would die to protect Stormwind and the alliance. They had taken up the call to arms willingly. Dedicated their lives to the protection of Azeroth and its citizens. They had sworn oaths professing to it. They were all prepared to die to honour those oaths. They would die honourable deaths. But none of it felt honourable. 

The butchers bill was always far too heavy.

Things were different when she had been just another body in the ranks. Following orders and going where she was commanded. Ready to die for her own oaths. She had never felt any ill will towards the men who had commanded her in those battles. She as doing her duty, what she was made to do.

It wasn’t the same when she was the one commanding. She was sending men to their death, arranging ranks and parties she knew would not make it out of that battlefield alive. She willingly _had_ to send men to die. Or they would all die. She felt like a twisted puppet master, dancing her marionettes over the flames just to watch them burn. 

She _hated_ that Khadgar was sitting mounted less than hundred paces behind her.

She understood now, why he hated watching her fight so much. Why it filled him with so much anxiety that he would defy her express orders and do everything he could to keep her safe. 

She’d have walked into the ranks of the horde alone and unarmed it could’ve guaranteed his safety. 

But they needed him. Him and the other four mages from the Kirin Tor. Their magic was a vital part of her battle strategy and she wasn’t sure they’d survive the day without their aid. They did need him. But not as much as _she_ needed him. 

She’d argued with Lothar for days over Khadgar’s inclusion in the forthcoming battle. But she knew deep down that even if they had excluded him he’d have been there anyway, for her. 

She’d have been much happier if he were back in the camp two miles behind them with the other camp followers. 

No army ever followed without followers and they were near outnumbered by smiths, farriers, women who would cook and do laundry and repair garments. There were family members, merchants and the usual prostitutes.

Porenn seethed. Perhaps he _wasn’t_ better off back with the camp followers. 

 

_They had been on the march for days and had camped for the night in a large field the Arath Highlands._

_Porenn was frustrated with their progress and would’ve kept marching for another two hours had their number of camp followers not been rapidly swelling. She could ask her soldiers to march into the night but it was not something she could force upon the hangers on so they stopped and set up yet another camp._

_Her men where efficient and had their horses picketed and rubbed down with their feedbags on, their own tents up and their fires roaring under cookpots before the rest of the camp had managed to get their tents up._

_As she did every night she inspected the camp. She was meticulous, not only did she want to be absolutely certain everything was in order and that her men where behaving, but she wanted to go out and meet them, speak to them and spend time with them. She had make sure they knew she was one of them and not some faceless organ master, gambling with the lives on men who deserved better. She wanted them to know she cared about them. All of them._

_She walked through the civilian camp, often stopping to speak with people and play with children for a few minutes. She couldn’t stop the followers from marching behind them so she did the next best thing and presented herself as their fearless and confident leader, hoping her optimism and confidence would create and aura of safety around the camp and she would gain their trust._

_She walked the picket lines and inspected horses. She met with smiths and farriers to see how their work was going and to ask if there was anything they needed._

_She gave her thanks to the seamstresses and launderers and complimented the efforts of the cooks._

_She expressed admiration of the boys practicing with wooden swords or branches cut from nearby trees. She praised the girls for helping their mothers and being so wonderfully talented at braiding their hair._

_She didn’t stop until every corner of the camp had seen at least a glimpse of her face, then she finally forced down whatever meagre leftovers she could find and crawled into bed with Khadgar for a handful of hours sleep, near exhausted and relieved for the warmth and familiarity of his arms._

_Only there could she stop being General Porenn and be just Renn._

_The only resentment she had was towards the prostitutes. They were as much a part of war as soldiers where and they was nothing she could do about that. Wherever men marched to battle the prostitutes followed, looking for a few coppers in exchange for a little comfort on what could be a man’s last night alive._

_She didn’t want her men to associating with the working girls, she saw them as a distraction and thought it despicable that they would take coin from a soldier, taking advantage of the looming fear of death to their own profit. But she couldn’t well stop them either. She did however scowl quite unhappily whenever she saw any of them moving amongst the soldier’s tents._

_The night was growing late and she was tired. She had walked for two hours through the camp and wanted to head back to her own tent early for once. She’d barely had chance to say two words to Khadgar in days and wanted to actually spend time with him instead of just sleeping next to him._

_She spotted Khadgar as she was on her way to their tent. He was sitting with Rowan, Lothar and a few others around a cook fire a few rows away from where their tent had been raised. She frowned and slowed her step as she approached._

_A girl was sitting next to Khadgar, a_ very pretty _girl. Leaning against him with an arm draped over his shoulders, she was wearing a dress much too low cut that she was about to fall out of and was laughing enthusiastically at something Khadgar had said. Her hand was on his forearm, squeezing and rubbing in a suggestive manner._

_Porenn felt rage surge inside her and her hands balled into fists at her sides. She resisted the urge to stroke the hilt of the dagger thrust through her belt._

_Khadgar smiled sheepishly and played with the leather cord in his hands. Sure, he wasn’t looking at her but she wasn’t pushing her off him either and from the way it looked to Porenn that girl would have happily climbed into his lap if he’d allowed it._

_Steeling herself, she approached._

_“Gentlemen” she said, coming to a stop._

_Khadgar looked up and shot to his feet with dread in his eyes she was stopped on the opposite side of the cook fire. She looked at him with the coldest eyes he’d ever seen on her and he was suddenly deathly afraid._

_“Renn” he said “I uhh.. Hi. You’re uh.. you’re back early. I didn’t.. I didn’t think you’d be finished so soon.” He was flustered, red in the face and clearly in a panic. The others held their tongues and looked away. She wanted to punch Lothar._

_The prostitute beside him had recovered from being almost knocked to the floor by his hasty leap to his feet and she too stood, placing a hand on Khadgar’s back as she stood beside him and gave Porenn a wide grin._

_“You one of the soldiers? I didn’t know any women were fighting, how peculiar. Why don’t you join us, there’s always room for more.” She said, gesturing to the small gathering and  leaning once again against a very nervous looking Khadgar who was looking straight at Porenn._

_Porenn fixed the girl with a steely glare “and you are?”_

_“Rosa” she said, offering her hand._

_Porenn ignored her hand “Why are you dining with my men?”_

_She looked up at the young mage who was almost hyperventilating and silently pleading with his lover. Rosa laughed and gave him arm a squeeze, not noticing when Porenn’s grip on her dagger tightened “Khadgar and I were catching up. We go back don’t we? We spent a very memorable weekend together once.” She said, winking at Porenn whose hand shook with the effort of keeping still. She wanted nothing more than to drive her blade into the girls pretty, exposed neck._

_Astonishingly, Rose seemed completely unaware of the tension between Porenn and Khadgar. Either that, or she just didn’t care._

_Khadgar snapped of his silence “Rosa, this is General Porenn Aldrid, she’s leading our army. She’s my uh… she’s my…” he trailed off, leaving enough unsaid._

_Porenn forced a smile “Excuse me, I have to inspect the picket lines.” She said, walking away without looking at Khadgar._

_Khadgar watched her walk away with dread and bone shattering_ fear _welling in his chest._

_“Khadgar” Rosa said, tugging lightly on his arm and stroking his chest “let’s go find some wine shall we?” she suggested, pursing her lips and looking up at him through her lashes in the most alluring way she knew._

_Khadgar turned to Lothar as Porenn’s back disappeared out of sight and stared at his friend in a shocked silence. He could almost hear his world crumbling around him._

_“Go spell-chucker. Now, before you lose her.” Lothar snapped, gesturing to where Porenn had disappeared. Khadgar untangled himself and darted after her._

_So, he had hired the services of a prostitute. And for a full weekend no less._

_That stung, but her own past was not innocent and she could forgive his past transgressions. But not when the prostitute was strutting around her campsite and trying to seduce her lover._

_She kept her head down and concentrated on maintaining her composure as she walked to their tent. She would_ not _be seen to fall apart in front of her men. Not even for Khadgar._

_She threw the tent flap aside and strode in, breathing heavily. As the flap settled behind her, her composure broke and the tears that had welled up in her eyes began to spill down her cheeks. She held a hand over her mouth to stifle the quiet sobs escaping her._

_A minute later she heard the flap pushed aside again._

_“Renn?” his voice was soft, fearful._

_Without thinking she span around and slapped him around the face so hard he staggered into table she had been using for a desk._

_“Get out of my tent,” she spat venomously, fresh tears streaming down her face, leaving noticeable tracks “get your horse, get your fucking whore and get out of my campsite, I’m done with you.”_

_Tears gathered in his own eyes and he felt as though he’d been punched in the throat “Renn no, please no. Please don’t make me go.” he begged, stepping towards her, ignoring the searing stinging in his cheek._

_“What is wrong with you?!” she snapped “I work all day and night to keep this army together. I keep us alive and rested and fed and you sit not fifty yards away from the bed we share wearing a fucking whore like a cheap scarf.”_

_Khadgar’s face creased as his own tears started to fall “Please let me explain, it’s not how it looks I swear.” He stepped forwards and tried to take her hands in his. Her face twisted in disgust and she slapped them away from her, backing away. The thought of him touching her right now made her skin crawl, knowing that he had been with her._

_“When?” she demanded “When was it?”_

_He shook his head “It doesn’t matter it was-“_

_“When!” she shouted, cutting him off “It matters to me. When did you fuck that whore Khadgar?”_

_He grimaced at her crass words. She made it sound as dirty as the memory made him feel. He sighed deeply “I was seventeen. I’d just left the Kirin Tor. I’d never… been with a woman before. I wondered between villages and cities for a month aimlessly. I ended up in some town, I don’t even remember where it was. There was… a brothel. I… I don’t know… I didn’t want to feel like a child anymore, so… I went in. Before I knew it Rosa had me in her room and I didn’t leave for two days,” He had looked down the entire time, filled with shame but he looked up at her now “It was the first and last time I ever stepped foot in one of those places. Please Renn believe that I’m completely dedicated to you. She means nothing.”_

_She took a deep, shuddering breath “Why where you sitting with her if she means nothing?”_

_“I didn’t even know she was here until a few days ago. She was circling some of the tents trying to find a customer and she saw me. I guess she thought could get more money out of me. I don’t know, she hangs around and talks to Lothar and me for a while then moves on.” He explained._

_“And you let her hang off of you like that? Her arms around you and her chest in your face.” Her voice was dripping with jealously and fury._

_He swallowed hard and looked away again “I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to handle the situation. I didn’t want her on me like that I swear. I moved away from her half a dozen times, Lothar will tell you, but she always follows me. I’m sorry, I should’ve told her not to. I didn’t think how much it would hurt you.”_

_She said nothing and stood watching him. He looked pitiful. There was genuine regret on his face. But was that for what he had done, or because he’d been caught?_

_“What am I to you?” she asked in a dangerously quiet voice._

_He met her eye “What? You’re… you’re my love. You’re the most important thing. You’re all that matters.” He said, reaching for her hands again, desperate to have her in his arms. She was so_ beautiful _and so full of fire and rage and he was_ so afraid _tonight would be the last time he’d ever see her face. The thought of never kissing her again made him feel like he was drowning._

_“Why didn’t you say that out there?”_

_He felt the shame rise in him again “I… I didn’t know what you wanted me to say. I didn’t want to claim you as mine in front your men if it was going to make you mad.” He admitted._

_She shook her head “So instead you denied me in front of the whore you slept with. Instead of angry you just made me hurt.”_

_“I’m so sorry Renn. I love you, I really do.”_

_She sighed, suddenly exhausted and ran a hand over her face “I’m going to bed.” She said, pulling her coat off and releasing her hair from the tight tie that kept it out of her face._

_He took a tentative step towards her “Can I… can I come too?”_

_She looked up at him as she sat down on the edge of the pallet “Get her out of my camp, tonight.”_

_Khadgar swallowed and nodded. He hesitated at the flap and looked back at her “I do love you. More than anything.”_

_She didn’t look up from unlacing her boots “I know.”_

_He waited outside of their tent_ _momentarily to calm himself before leaving to get rid of Rosa. He paused for a moment and pulled the flap back just an inch to peer inside at her. Shame hit him again like a boulder when she saw her lay in their bed, her shoulders shaking as she cried into her arms._

Things where tense between them for days whilst put him and Rosa to the back of her mind and concentrated on the army and their march.

She was too busy with her army and their followers as well as tracking the movements of their enemy to dedicate much time to dealing with their issues and so treated him with a cold civility she knew stung like dagger through the gut to Khadgar. She wanted him to know he had hurt her and that he couldn’t just get away with it, but when she did wake in the night to find herself back in his arms or lay on his chest, she never moved. 

It was only on the eve of battle however when her resolve truly broke and she gave in to the overwhelming need to have him inside her again. She couldn’t go into battle at peace with her death if they hadn’t been together one last time. If she died and he lived she’d want him to know she loved him until her last. 

 

Behind her she heard a stir in the ranks and mumbles and murmurs began to ripple through the waiting soldiers.

Without turning Porenn raised a gauntleted fist and silence fell instantly. 

Khadgar felt a shiver run down his spine as the men behind them fell silent at such a small gesture from her. He knew she was a powerful woman, but _this_ kind of power, to have such control over tens of thousands to silence them with a fist. He couldn’t have ever imagined. 

Behind her the banners rippled in the wind.

She stood. They stood and waited in silence for what felt like hours as the sun made little progress on its journey to its noonday peak.

Thousands of men behind here where arranged perfectly. The cavalry would take the first charge, but for the moment her archers were in front of them. Behind them where the pikemen, halberds and the foot. The mages where spaced intermittently at quarter mile intervals with Khadgar dead centre. Behind her. 

Then the noise began.

It was quiet at first, a soft rumbling in the distance but it grew steadily into a deafening cacophony of hoof beats, orcish war cries and tens of thousands of marching feet. 

She could see the dense canopy of the forest begin to tremble as thousands of warriors tore through like boulders on a hillside. 

She assumed they had intended to catch them unawares by avoiding main roads and coming through the trees but her scouts where too good and easily tracked the foul beasts. 

Men began to shift behind her, nerves getting to some of the younger and less experienced. She stood perfectly still as the rumbling grew and grew until it was deafening and the whole forest seemed to shake with the force of its invaders. 

All at once they burst out of the trees. Thousands of them pouring out through the underbrush in seemingly never ending streams at a dead run. Streams and torrents that kept coming until an ocean of steel-tipped lances, war hammers and battle axes was pouring out of the trees without hesitating or reining in. So, they had expected to be met here. 

Still, she didn’t move. 

Less than a thousand yards away a horde army was streaming towards her. Full of rage and hatred and bloodlust and she hadn’t even flinched.

Khadgar felt pride and admiration swell inside him. He was always proud of her, but he was also afraid. He had put her through a difficult few days at a time when she needed his support the most. He could only hope she was strong enough to put it all aside and give the battle her full attention. He hoped he wasn’t a distraction.

His own nerves bubbled in his chest and his hands flexed on his reins. He was definitely afraid.  They had come to kill. 

“Hold” She shouted over the noise. 

Men around him where starting to shift and twitch nervously, almost anxiously. Whether to flee or fight he did not know. The latter, he hoped. 

Several horses danced and their riders reined them in hastily. 

“Hold!” she snapped. 

The horde kept coming. Six hundred yards away now. Many where mounted, though many more weren’t. There weren’t just orcs, but trolls as well. 

Five hundred yards. 

The cavalry formed tight ranks. Fingers caressed bow strings. Hands held sword hilts. 

Porenn was a lone figure fifty yards ahead of the rest of her army. One single sword against a landslide of destruction cascading towards her. 

Khadgar grit his teeth and fought against the instinct to protect her. He wanted to ride out and pull her onto his horse, to erect a shield around them and wait out the oncoming slaughter. 

Lothar’s hand caressed his sword hilt. The horde were closing that distance fast. The cavalry streaming ahead of the foot. 

Four hundred yards.

Porenn turned and mounted Ruin in one swift movement. She urged him into a trot with the pressure of her knees, moving a little further down the ranks “Archers!” She called, loud enough to be heard as far back as possible. The call was repeated by a dozen lieutenants and bannermen down the ranks “Nock your arrows!”

The hair on the back of Khadgar’s neck stood up as a thousand men plucked bolts from the bundles thrust into the ground at their feet and nocked them. 

“Draw!” the sound of a thousand bow strings tightening sent a shiver down his spine. 

Three hundred yards.

“LOOSE!”

A thousand shafts loosed at once, dark streaks taking to the sky as the dull thud of a thousand released bow strings rippled down the lines. 

She watched their flight path as they raced through the sky, climbing before hurtling down at the front ranks of the horde. At that distance they couldn’t pierce a breastplate but the carpet of destruction that rained down was devastating. 

Horses went down, some instantly dead and others kicking and screaming and taking others with them in the wild thrashing as arrows exploded out of arms, legs, torsos and faces. Creatures screamed and toppled, dead, dying or trying to stem the flow of blood. Others fell from their saddles or where they had been on foot, howling at the ruin of an arm or a shattered leg. 

She didn’t hesitate “LOOSE!” Her cry rang out the second the archers had drawn again and another thousand quarrels streaked through the sky. 

The dead horde fighters meant nothing to her, but god, the _horses._ They went down by the hundreds, tripping other riders and causing breaks in their ranks and tumbling on the ground until they became trampled by those behind them. 

“LOOSE!” A third volley added to the carnage. Orcs and trolls came forward to quickly fill the gaps in their ranks.

It was not a once sided assault however. Many of the cavalry had thrown down their lances and took out horse bows and arrows began to fall amongst her own archers. With their bows they weren’t yet in range to kill but several men struggled to draw with an arrow through an arm or shoulder. 

Khadgar had to fight the urge to surge forward and protect her when she suddenly ducked her head to the side as an arrow whizzed past her left ear. If she had been a second slower…

He swallowed hard, feeling sick. He hated the horde as much as the next man but the sea of bodies and limbs and dying was difficult to look at. 

“Kirin Tor!” her voice was loud over the carnage “unleash hell!”

She wheeled Ruin around and booted him into a canter as Khadgar and the other mages moved in near perfect unison, summoning their magic. He kept his eyes on her and caught the glance she spared him as she passed him as the ranks parted to let her through. He himself was behind the cavalry and the archers and he heard her rein in further behind with the other officers where she could see everything, placing her in the best position to control her troops. She had to be a general today. She couldn’t draw her sword and become a common soldier. For that, he was thankful. 

Khadgar and the others hurled balls of fire at the oncoming tide. Riders and their mounts where engulfed in searing flames, sending those either side of them reeling away from incineration as their comrades died instantly. They struck the ground and it exploded beneath them, sending sprays of dirt and body parts twelve feet into the air. 

The fire and the arrows kept coming and trolls and orcs died or fell and the bodies and gore began to cover the once green meadow. But they never stopped coming.

A hundred yards.

Porenn nodded and stood up in her stirrups, out of habit more than a lack of visibility and called loudly “CAVALRY! CHARGE!”

Six thousand men lowered their lances and unsheathed their swords and booted their mounts into gallops, Lothar amongst them. 

The sound of hooves was deafening but Khadgar kept working, hurling his balls of fire at the back of the horde ranks now as Porenn had instructed them as the two mages closest to him began to wield bolts of lightning, striking at the horde. With the cavalry unleased the bowmen retreated, streaming back through sudden breaks in the ranks to join the foot soldiers as the pike men stepped forwards, lowering their shields and lances. 

The thunderous _crash_ as the two forces slammed into each other was sickening, and the carnage really began.

Khadgar’s hands were shaking and wanted to empty his stomach as he watched the battle unfolding. Men where cutting each other down, removing heads and arms and legs and driving their blades through torso’s and throats.

The meadow was filled with the sounds of hooves and the ringing of steel on steel as warriors fought. Battle cries rang out and always there was the moaning and desperate wailing of the dying lying on the ground as they were trampled under the two armies. 

Bodies fell everywhere. Men. Orcs. Trolls. Horses. Draenei. Night Elves. 

It made no difference. They all fell.

The rain began, slowly at first then all at once the skies opened and a downpour began. The ground underfoot was becoming sodden and treacherous underfoot where hooves had churned up mud and blood and now rain. 

“Halberds! Foot!” Khadgar heard her call “Forward!”

The pikemen split their ranks and formed gaps for the halberds and the foot to go streaming through as they charged, screaming and ready to kill.

The halberds where devastating, using the vicious axes on their weapons to pull down what horde riders remained, slamming them into the ground with bone shattering force and driving the spear points through throats, heart and eyes. 

There was no sense of time to be had and the fighting seemed to spread back into the ranks of the horde and closer to where the rest of her army waited.

Khadgar gasped in horror as a spear hurtled through the air and impaled the mage on his left, taking him through the chest and throwing him back, pinning him against one of the trees behind them. 

“Kirin Tor, target the rear, no one leaves!” Porenn shouted

Khadgar swayed in his saddle. He couldn’t hear, his mind was filled with the sounds of the dying screaming and moaning. He stared at the abhorrent scenes in front of him in disgust. So much death. Everywhere he looked he saw lives extinguished at the hands of others. 

A Draenei soldier dragged himself across the ground by his hands, both legs ending in bloody stumps above the knee. 

A horse lay screaming and kicking, pierced by a dozen arrows. Another galloped aimlessly, still carrying it’s headless human rider. Lighting struck a Troll and it exploded in a spray of blood and viscera, it’s now detached legs dropped to the knees and fell, twitching. 

Rain thundered down on these soldiers as they fought and cut each other down mercilessly and the ground began to turn into a shallow lake of red. 

It was all too much. Too much pointless pain and death. What would it achieve, what would any of it achieve? He wanted to empty his stomach but he could do nothing but stare and tremble, growing paler and more afraid. 

“KHADGAR!” She screamed his name over the noise and he turned.

She was stood in her stirrups again, this time looking straight at him “Focus Khadgar, or get out of here!” 

He nodded and swallowed hard, letting her voice and her face become his anchor as he steeled himself and turned back to the nightmare unfolding before him. 

He began working again, conjuring fire balls and flinging them over the fighting at the horde soldiers at the back of the pack. They had finally stopping pouring out of the trees. There must have been tens of thousands of them. A larger force than he’d ever seen in his life. Larger than he ever thought could’ve existed. 

“General” Ashlan, who was mounted beside Porenn said “Perhaps you should have some of the pikes form a perimeter around you.” He suggested.

She could see the logic in his suggestion, having them form a hollow box around her and the various captains would increase their safety and the enemy would think twice about trying to approach them but she shook her head “No. We will not barricade ourselves behind the pikes whilst our men die out there.” She said.

“Of course General.” He said. Ashlan was not a cowardly man, he would not hide behind a wall whilst others fought and had only wanted to keep his General safe. 

Khadgar was beginning to feel exposed. The fighting was drawing closer. The pikes tightened their ranks and prepared to push back as horde soldiers fought their way towards Porenn and the captains. 

The enormous orcs swung their deadly war hammers and battle axes, severing heads and shattering spines as they broke through to the pikes. 

“Hold the lines!” Porenn screamed “Hold those fucking lines!” 

The pikes held their position, spearing orcs and trolls on the end of their weapons but in several places they broke through, shattering shields and splintering pikes and crushing men into piles of pulp and limbs.

One of them spotted Khadgar and launched its spear, taking his horse through the chest. The animal barely had time to scream before it fell, taking Khadgar with it. He screamed as he fell, throwing himself from the saddle before he could be crushed under the weight of the dead animal. 

He landed with a heavy thud, the wind knocked out of him and his head ringing. He brought a shaky hand up and felt blood gushing down the side of his face from a gash in his head. He reached for the sword Porenn had insisted he brought and unsheathed it with shaking hands, scrambling to his feet as the battle raged around him. 

The horde had broken through the pikemen and had brought the fight to them. All around him men and orcs and trolls and draenei died and killed. 

Khadgar was panting in panic as he found himself in the centre of the fighting. He swung his sword wildly and span around, forgetting all his training and desperate to stay alive. 

Out of the chaos a troll came running at him, snarling and wielding a blade dripping with blood. He thrust out in pure instinct and sent an arcane blast the thing, throwing it off its feet and away from him. 

He turned, ready to face the orc closest to him, his heart pounding. The orc raised its huge hammer then grunted in surprise and fell as an arrow erupted through the back of its neck. A draenei dashed in front of him, in one on one combat with another orc. Two pike men appeared at his right surging forward, stabbing at the enemy with their laces. 

There was a swing of an axe and a severed human head fell at his feet with a thud. Khadgar yelped in fright and stumbled backwards, terrified and caught up in the mayhem, dropping his sword. 

 

Porenn watched in terror as his horse went down and he disappeared out of sight. They had broken through the pikes in a several places but that did not concern her much. Her men knew how to fight and retake those lines and they had the upper hand here, horde fighters fell quicker and in greater numbers than her own forces, it would be over soon. 

Khadgar was her concern. He wasn’t a soldier, he couldn’t take care of himself on a battlefield. He could be dead already. 

She leapt down from Ruin and unsheathed, ignoring the pouring rain hammering down on her. 

“General!” Ashlan shouted. 

“I have to go Ashlan” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

He saw the anguish and fear etched on her face and nodded solemnly  “Reform the lines lieutenant, you’re in charge now. If they break through further have the Kirin Tor drop lighting on them. If they try our flanks have the pikes and the archers deal with it. If they try to flee have the archers deal with it. If you feel we’re close to ending this have the pike flank them and end it sooner.” The pikes were already reforming the lines. Some had been carried out into the battle, and Khadgar must’ve been with them, pulled out by the surge of the fight.

“Yes General” he nodded, his face grim. 

She ran.

“You!” Ashlan shouted to the nearest pikeman “take ten men and follow your commander, if she dies soldier I’ll take your fucking head myself!” the hard faced man nodded and gathered troops, sprinting after her. 

She threw herself into the battle, shouldering her own men out of the way as her burning desire to be in the middle of it all took over. She slashed as she ran, cutting the throat of an orc and stopped, bringing her sword up high to catch the battle axe aimed for her head. She forced the weapon away and twisted her own around to thrust through the chest of the beast in front of her, slamming her foot into its gut to force it off her blade. 

“Khadgar!” she called over the wall of noise. The visibility was terrible, the rain was so heavy she could barely see five feet in front of her “Khadgar!”

She kept moving, searching desperately for him. She thrust forward, running through a troll easily then swinging low to take another’s leg off at the knee before coming back up to take its head.  

“Khadgar!” She swung to deflect a blade then slashed across a now exposed stomach, insides bursting out and spilling onto the rain and blood soaked ground. A troll came screeching at her, she sliced at the creature, severing its sword arm before thrusting her blade up through its side, piercing its heart “Khadgar!”

Something slammed into her from behind and she was thrown forward into the mud. She span onto her back and lifted her sword just in time to block the axe swinging at her. The troll screamed at swung again, she grit her teeth and lifted her sword again as another blade exploded out through its chest and it was thrown to the ground with the bother bodies. 

A hand grabbed her arm and Lothar hoisted her onto her feet “Where is he!?” she shouted. 

Lothar, his face covered in blood and mud, shook his head “He isn’t behind the pikes?”

She shook her head “They broke through the lines. His horse went down.” She couldn’t say any more, couldn’t voice her fears.

Lothar took hold of her shoulder in a firm grip “We’ll find him.”

Bodies were piling up everywhere, great piles and walls of them and soldiers fought and died in droves. Magic erupted in every direction. Balls of flame, daggers of lighting and arcane blasts coming from every corner of the battlefield and with no way for her to know which, if any, where Khadgar’s. 

She rushed forward and swung her blade, severing a head before she could be impaled. She slashed and opened throats, chests and stomachs. She forced her sword up through ribcages and into hearts. 

She kept searching and killing everything that appeared in front of her. 

Silence came all at once. 

Not a dead silence, but the awful silence that came at the end of a battle. 

The air was filled with the panting of the soldiers around her and the moaning of the dying. The rain kept coming and in the distance somewhere a horse was screaming. 

It was over. 

She sheathed her sword and looked at Lothar. There was no visibility where she stood, surrounded by a wall of the dead taller than she was.

“We’ll find him.” He assured her.

 

She walked for hours. The sun had almost set fully and there was barely any light to see by, but she kept walking. 

Those that were hadn’t died instantly were all dead now and the battlefield was a sea of bodies. The minority where her forces and were vastly outnumbered by the dead horde forced, but that was little comfort. 

Hours previously Rowan had brought her Khadgar’s sword, with no sign of the mage himself. She had turned away to cry for a moment once the soldier had left her. They had injured to tend to and he should’ve been there. He wanted to search with her however, to help her, but he knew she needed to be alone. 

She refused to stop looking. There must’ve been fifty thousand bodies lying under the darkening sky, but she refused to stop until she found him, no matter what condition he was in. 

As she searched she cursed herself for ever letting him come with her. Sure, he was a powerful and talented mage and had played his vital part in the battle. But would his life be worth it if she were to find his body?

He was so much more than just a weapon. He was kind and caring and such a vastly intelligent mind. He did magic for the children in the palace and in the streets of Stormwind, just to make them smile and laugh. He stole food from the kitchen to feed the stray animals of the city. He read stories to Varian when his mother was busy after the boy had developed a fear of the dark and wouldn’t sleep. He was supposed to be guardian one day. He was meant for things more than this. He was better than this.  

He deserved better than being cut down by the horde. 

Porenn was exhausted, but she kept walking. She would find him.

“Khadgar?” she called for the thousandth time, her voice cracking. Tears trickled down her cheeks, leaving tracks in the blood and mud splattered across her features. 

She knew she should go back to her army and congratulate the survivors, offer her comfort to the injured. But until she knew what had happened to him she couldn’t function. Let Lothar take command now, she had to find him. 

It was fully dark and she was losing all hope when Ashlan rode up to her on his black warhorse “General!” he called “we’ve found him.”

Hope and fear blossomed in her “Is he-“

“He’s alive.” the man grinned. She exhaled deeply and dropped down to a crouch, bowing her head and sobbing in relief “come on General.” Ashlan said, offering her his hand and pulling her up onto his horse. 

The short ride seemed to take an age but when he began to rein up outside a large white peaked tent she leapt from the saddle and marched inside. 

Khadgar was sitting on a pallet, looking a little worse for wear but alive, with an arrow through his left arm and dried blood down the right side of his head. Lothar with him, as well as Rowan and a very harassed looking nurse.

He grinned when he saw her and she rushed to his side, grasping the sides of his face and catching him in a fierce kiss. 

He winced in pain but kissed her back, bringing his one good hand up to hold her wrist.

“I thought you were dead” she whispered, pulling away only an inch.

“So did I” he admitted. 

“Alright, alright. Enough of that,” Lothar said, clapping her on the shoulder “we need to take care of this” he said, gesturing to the arrow sticking out of his arm. 

Porenn looked at it and sighed before washing her hands in the bowl of warm soapy water on the collapsible table beside him.

“What’re.. what’re you doing?” he asked, watching her with eyes widened in alarm. He still didn’t think he’d been fully forgiven for the Rosa incident. 

“I’m going to get that arrow out of you.” She said, rolling up her sleeves. 

“Shouldn’t the nurse do it?” he asked, his eyes darting between the group gathered around him. 

She frowned and pulled a belt knife out “Relax Khad, I know what I’m doing.” She scored the shaft and broke it cleanly just above his arm, then inspected the end for splinters before tying a leather cord around the other end and wrapping it around her hand. 

“Just.. remember I love you okay?” she said. 

He nodded and grit his teeth. She yanked the bloodstained shaft free and he let out a howl of pain.

 

Surprisingly, Porenn was first to bed. 

Once she realised Khadgar was alive the adrenalin that had kept her running drained out of her and tiredness washed over her like an avalanche. 

Khadgar’s wounds needed treating and dressing and she wanted to stay with him but quickly realised she was so bone weary tired she could barely stay on her feet and Lothar insisted on walking her back to her tent immediately. She protested for a while, wanting to stay with Khadgar but he too insisted she rest and he would follow her as soon as he could and so she finally gave in and allowed herself to be dragged away. 

Inside she lit the braziers, bathing the tent in a soft light and warming herself. Once the warm air began to circulate she washed herself.  Her face, neck and arms were coated in the grime of battle. Dried mud and blood that covered her face like a sickening mask, branding her killer. Her tears had washed only a little away and so she filled the wash stand from the jug beside it and scrubbed until her skin was pale and pink again. 

Washing away the evidence of what happened that day soothed her mind and lessened the guilt of leading men to death by a few small degrees. 

She should’ve been used to it by how, but the screams of the dying was something that never left her, no matter how many times she heard them. 

Slowly, she took off her armour, letting it drop to the floor. She was too tired to deal with it right now, it could wait until the morning. She peeled off her clothes, wincing as the multitude of cuts and bruises picked up in battle made themselves known, creating constellations of blue and purple and red over her pale white skin. 

Carefully, she washed her aching body, washing away the horror of the day and feeling as though she was cleansing herself. She was a proud soldier, she had honour and praised the men who fought and died with honour, but that didn’t mean she was ever comfortable with it. 

Last, she rinsed her long hair, washing away the last of the dried blood and the mud that was everywhere. It seemed to be trying to seep into her skin, to take root in her veins and stay there as a foul reminder of the deaths she had orchestrated that day. She didn’t need anything to help her remember. The memory would never leave her. 

Finally clean she didn’t bother with clothes and climbed under the blankets, enjoying the way they felt against her naked skin and let out a shuddering sigh of relief. It was over. 

 

 

The camp was in near silence by the time Khadgar finally made it back to their tent. The day had been longer than any he could remember and he felt as though it had been at least a year since he reluctantly let go of Porenn that morning and climbed out of bed. 

That battle had lasted an age, he was sure. 

Being out in the middle of that field of horror was like nothing he could’ve ever imagined. Surrounded by death on all sides and afraid that every breath he took was going to be his last. He’d never known fear like it but now all he felt was relief. 

Ducking inside the tent he was surprised to find the braziers still lit. 

Porenn was lay in bed and rolled over and sat up when she saw him enter, the covers falling to her waist. 

“You’re supposed to be resting.” Khadgar said as he dropped the bundle that was his cloak and tunic to the floor, trying to ignore how naked she was. 

“I was waiting for you.” She said, climbing out of bed. 

He opened his mouth to tell her to get back into bed but was cut off as she darted across the tent and seized him in a desperate kiss. He gripped her hips and kissed her back.

“I nearly lost you,” She whispered against his lips, kissing him over and over. Tears leaked down her face and he could taste the saltiness in their kisses “I thought you were dead.” 

He wiped away her tears with the thumb of his good arm “I’m sorry,” he whispered “I’m so sorry.”

She grasped the collar of his shirtsleeves and pulled him harder against her, unable to touch enough of him “I need you Khad. I need to feel you. Please, I need you to love me.”

“We can’t,” he whispered, though he kept kissing her “we shouldn’t. Not here, not after everything that happened today.” Her tongue slipped into his mouth and he ran his hands down the curve of her spine and over her backside, able to feel every curve of her pressed against his through his shirtsleeves. 

“Please,” she whispered, on the verge of sobbing “after anything we went through today, we could’ve died, we almost did. I need you Khadgar, I thought I’d lost you. Please, love me.”

He kissed her in reply. 

They stumbled back towards the bed, shedding his clothes desperately until they were both naked and he hooked his right arm under her backside and lifted her as she wrapped her legs around his middle, never stopping kissing him. 

He carried her to the bed, his left hand ghosting gently over her bruised kiss and lay her down, climbing on top of her. 

He hovered above her and cried out when pain shot through the injured arm when he leaned on it and dropped down onto his side, gritting his teeth through the throbbing. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, sitting up and placing her hand on his shoulder. 

He groaned and shook his head “I can’t,” he said through grit teeth “my arm.”

She nodded and brought her mouth to his, kissing him through the pain and distracting him until his tense body began to relax and respond to her. Her hand slid up his thigh, caressing the light brown hairs that adorned his skin, moving over his hips and wrapping her hand around his growing erection, squeezing not too tightly and working him from tip to base. 

She hooked her leg over his hip and rolled them over, putting him on his back and climbing on top to straddle him, swiftly running the palm of her hand up the underside of his cock, feeling the a vein pulsing beneath her hand.

Khadgar bucked his hips and shifted beneath her, biting his lip and groaning at the pleasure she brought him. His left hand found purchase on her bruised hip and the right caressed her thigh before dipping between them, rubbing her folds with two fingers before sliding them back and into her, curling them around to find the spot that always made her moan like a goddess. Khadgar tightened the grip he hand on her hip and grimaced, fighting the pain in his arm and he pulled himself up into a sitting position as she increased the speed of the hand wrapped around him, running her thumb over his sensitive head every time her hand came up to the tip, smearing the pre-cum over him. 

He took a breast in his mouth, kneading with his free hand as he added the pressure of his thumb to her clit and thrust his fingers in and out of her, gathering up her arousal. She mewled and whimpered and held the back of his head as he pressed the flat of his tongue against her nipple before sucking it into his mouth. 

“I love you, I love you so much.” she whimpered above him. 

He leaned up to capture her mouth in a wet kiss and moaned in complaint as she placed both her hands on his shoulders. She pushed him gently back down onto his back before lifting herself up onto her knees and taking hold of him again.

She positioned herself above him and rubbed the tip of him against her, making sure he was thoroughly ready before she finally slid down onto him, groaning as he filled her up. 

He took her hips, panting and his fingertips digging into her backside, as her hips rolled and she rode him, pulling almost fully away from before rolling back down and engulfing him again. 

Every inch of her body felt something. Everywhere his hands had touched her left trails of fire across her skin and every cut and bruise from the battlefield burned with ache. She was smothered in sensations, stinging pain and intense pleasure and every single one was a welcome reminder of how _alive_ they were. Every second he drove her closer to orgasm and she felt him twitch inside her, every pang of pain from her battered body, every shift of the muscles of his chest beneath her hands, it all let her know they had survived. 

Khadgar was in bliss, the day had been chaos and now here in their tent with the sounds of the soft cracking of the wood in the brazier, the haze of heat over them, her breathy needy moans and her touch all over his body brought back reminders of all that was good in the world, washing away the horror he had seen before his own eyes. 

“Renn,” Khadgar panted “I can’t hold on.” He warned her, bringing a hand forward to rub her clit to rush her orgasm.

She nodded and held onto his wrist, already dangerously close to caving. Khadgar planted his feet and began to bring his hips up to meet hers, thrusting deeper and deeper into her as she clenched around him and her orgasm hit hard, causing a flood of moans and curses to tumble from her lips as she bucked her hips and thrust through her release. 

Inside her she felt him twitch and pulse as his release came and he spilled inside her, his head rolling back into the soft pillows and his eyes snapping shut as he panted her name and held her to tight her hips ached. 

She clenched her thighs tighter around him, not ready to lose the feel of him inside her. 

She hovered above him, panting as they both came down and began to recover. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she collapsed onto his chest and burst into violent tears that shook her entire body. 

“Oh no, no no baby, please don’t cry.” Khadgar soothed, pulling out of her and pulling her up into his arms, rolling over onto his side and holding her against his chest. 

Khadgar stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head, holding her tight against him as she wailed in agony. Porenn was the strong one in their relationship, she was the rock that got them through the worst but this, this was something else. He had never seen her so broken.


End file.
